348 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



An examination of the tiowers showed that all the open flowers 

 were punctured at the top of the bulb which f )rms the base of the 

 corolla. I made a minute examination of the flowers to find out if 

 the punctures were the work of other insects, but could find no 

 other insect on or in any of the flowers, and also that none of the 

 unopened flower buds showed any sign of puncture. E\'entually, 

 by the aid of a glass I found that the puncture was made from the 

 outside and was ragged and torn, and ultimately I was fortunate 

 in seeing one bee actually pierce the base of the corolla whilst I 

 was observing it. As stated before, there were nc other bees there 

 except Apis mellifica; these were acting in a normal manner, seek- 

 ing the honey through the centre .)f the flower, and in no case die! I 

 sec one attempting to follow the example of the occidentalis. 



The reason for this (to me,atleast)strangeactionGf5.(>(r/V/£':?//a//.'> 

 may possibly be explained by the fact that the tongue of occidentalis 

 when fully extended is not nearly long enough to reach tlie hcncy 

 sac, but the fact of the folds at the base of the petals being easily 

 pried apart gave them ready access, and it is also probable that 

 when they found a freshly-opened bud on which the folds of the 

 petals had not yet commenced to separate that they found easy 

 access by puncturing the corolla; they most assiduously hunted for 

 a puncture and invariably thrust their tongue into it. Some of the 

 flowers I examined had been punctured in several places. It 

 w^^uld be interesting to know if this action of puncture is shared by 

 any )f the other bees, or if it is an invariable practice of occidentalis 

 when attacking a flower having a deep-seated honey sac. 



[Note. — B. occidentalis belongs t ) the same group of Bomb us 

 as the European species terrestris, which, it is well known, punc- 

 tures' with its mandibles the base of such flowers as Snapdragon 

 and Broad-bean to obtain the nectar, thereby sometimes damaging 

 the seed vessels. I have seen the workers of B. terricola, the repre- 

 sentative of this group in Eastern Canada, puncturing the spur of 

 Impatiens bijiora and sucking the nectar through the wound thus 

 made, though B. vagans and fervidus were observed obtaining the 

 nectar by entering the flower in the legitimate way. — F. W. L. 

 Sladcn, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa.] 



Mailed October 13rh, 19i:^ 



